Cloning and characterization of granulosa cell high-mobility group (HMG)-box protein-1, a novel HMG-box transcriptional regulator strongly expressed in rat ovarian granulosa cells

Transcriptomic signatures of WNT-driven pathways and granulosa cell-oocyte interactions during primordial follicle activation

Primordial follicle activation (PFA) is a pivotal event in female reproductive biology, coordinating the transition from quiescent to growing follicles. This study employed comprehensive single-cell RNA sequencing to gain insights into the detailed regulatory mechanisms governing the synchronized dormancy and activation between granulosa cells (GCs) and oocytes with the progression of the PFA process. Wntless (Wls) conditional knockout (cKO) mice served as a unique model, suppressing the transition from pre-GCs to GCs, and disrupting somatic cell-derived WNT signaling in the ovary. Our data revealed immediate transcriptomic changes in GCs post-PFA in Wls cKO mice, leading to a divergent trajectory, while oocytes exhibited modest transcriptomic alterations. Subpopulation analysis identified the molecular pathways affected by WNT signaling on GC maturation, along with specific gene signatures linked to dormant and activated oocytes. Despite minimal evidence of continuous up-regulation of dormancy-related genes in oocytes, the loss of WNT signaling in (pre-)GCs impacted gene expression in oocytes even before PFA, subsequently influencing them globally. The infertility observed in Wls cKO mice was attributed to compromised GC-oocyte molecular crosstalk and the microenvironment for oocytes. Our study highlights the pivotal role of the WNT-signaling pathway and its molecular signature, emphasizing the importance of intercellular crosstalk between (pre-)GCs and oocytes in orchestrating folliculogenesis.

Clinical characterization, genetic profiling, and immune infiltration of TOX in diffuse gliomas

BACKGROUND

Immunotherapies targeting glioblastoma (GBM) have led to significant improvements in patient outcomes. TOX is closely associated with the immune environment surrounding tumors, but its role in gliomas is not fully understood.

METHODS

Using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA), we analyzed the transcriptomes of 1691 WHO grade I-IV human glioma samples. The R language was used to perform most of the statistical analyses. Somatic mutations and somatic copy number variation (CNV) were analyzed using GISTIC 2.0.

RESULTS

TOX was down-regulated in malignant gliomas compared to low grade gliomas, and upregulated in the proneural and IDH mutant subtypes of GBM. TOXlow tumours are associated with the loss of PTEN and amplification of EGFR, while TOXhigh tumours harbor frequent mutations in IDH1 (91%). TOX was highly expressed in leading edge regions of tumours. Gene ontology and pathway analyses demonstrated that TOX was enriched in multiple immune related processes including lymphocyte migration in GBM. Finally, TOX had a negative association with the infiltration of several immune cell types in the tumour microenvironment.

CONCLUSION

TOX has the potential to be a new prognostic marker for GBM.

GWAS identifies two novel colorectal cancer loci at 16q24.1 and 20q13.12

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified more than 50 CRC loci. However, most of the previous studies were conducted in European population, and host genetic factors among Japanese population are largely remained to be identified. To identify novel loci in the Japanese population, here, we performed a large-scale GWAS using 6692 cases and 27 178 controls followed by a replication analysis using more than 11 000 case-control samples. We found the significant association of 10 loci (P < 5 × 10-8), including 2 novel loci on 16q24.1 (IRF8-FOXF1, rs847208, P = 3.15 × 10-9 and odds ratio = 1.107 with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.071-1.145) and 20q13.12 (TOX2, rs6065668, P = 4.47 × 10-11 and odds ratio = 0.897 with 95% CI of 0.868-0.926). Moreover, 35 previously reported single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 24 regions were validated in the Japanese population (P < 0.05) with the same risk allele as in the previous studies. SNP rs6065668 was significantly associated with TOX2 expression in the sigmoid colon. In addition, nucleotide substitutions in the regulatory region of TOX2 were predicted to alter the binding of several transcription factors, including KLF5. Our findings elucidate the important role of genetic variations in the development of CRC in the Japanese population.

Integrated DNA methylation analysis identifies topographical and tumoral biomarkers in pilocytic astrocytomas

Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) is the most common glioma in pediatric patients and occurs in different locations. Chromosomal alterations are mostly located at chromosome 7q34 comprising the BRAF oncogene with consequent activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Although genetic and epigenetic alterations characterizing PA from different localizations have been reported, the role of epigenetic alterations in PA development is still not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether distinctive methylation patterns may define biologically relevant groups of PAs. Integrated DNA methylation analysis was performed on 20 PAs and 4 normal brain samples by Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadChips.

We identified distinct methylation profiles characterizing PAs from different locations (infratentorial vs supratentorial) and tumors with onset before and after 3 years of age. These results suggest that PA may be related to the specific brain site where the tumor arises from region-specific cells of origin. We identified and validated in silico the methylation alterations of some CpG islands. Furthermore, we evaluated the expression levels of selected differentially methylated genes and identified two biomarkers, one, IRX2, related to the tumor localization and the other, TOX2, as tumoral biomarker.

Genome-wide Regional Heritability Mapping Identifies a Locus Within the TOX2 Gene Associated With Major Depressive Disorder

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the second largest cause of global disease burden. It has an estimated heritability of 37%, but published genome-wide association studies have so far identified few risk loci. Haplotype-block-based regional heritability mapping (HRHM) estimates the localized genetic variance explained by common variants within haplotype blocks, integrating the effects of multiple variants, and may be more powerful for identifying MDD-associated genomic regions.

METHODS

We applied HRHM to Generation Scotland: The Scottish Family Health Study, a large family- and population-based Scottish cohort (N = 19,896). Single-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and haplotype-based association tests were used to localize the association signal within the regions identified by HRHM. Functional prediction was used to investigate the effect of MDD-associated SNPs within the regions.

RESULTS

A haplotype block across a 24-kb region within the TOX2 gene reached genome-wide significance in HRHM. Single-SNP- and haplotype-based association tests demonstrated that five of nine genotyped SNPs and two haplotypes within this block were significantly associated with MDD. The expression of TOX2 and a brain-specific long noncoding RNA RP1-269M15.3 in frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens basal ganglia, respectively, were significantly regulated by MDD-associated SNPs within this region. Both the regional heritability and single-SNP associations within this block were replicated in the UK-Ireland group of the most recent release of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), the PGC2-MDD (Major Depression Dataset). The SNP association was also replicated in a depressive symptom sample that shares some individuals with the PGC2-MDD.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the value of HRHM for MDD and provides an important target within TOX2 for further functional studies.

The Role of TOX in the Development of Innate Lymphoid Cells

TOX, an evolutionarily conserved member of the HMG-box family of proteins, is essential for the development of various cells of both the innate and adaptive immune system. TOX is required for the development of CD4(+) T lineage cells in the thymus, including natural killer T and T regulatory cells, as well as development of natural killer cells and fetal lymphoid tissue inducer cells, the latter required for lymph node organogenesis. Recently, we have identified a broader role for TOX in the innate immune system, demonstrating that this nuclear protein is required for generation of bone marrow progenitors that have potential to give rise to all innate lymphoid cells. Innate lymphoid cells, classified according to transcription factor expression and cytokine secretion profiles, derive from common lymphoid progenitors in the bone marrow and require Notch signals for their development. We discuss here the role of TOX in specifying CLP toward an innate lymphoid cell fate and hypothesize a possible role for TOX in regulating Notch gene targets during innate lymphoid cell development.

TOX2 regulates human natural killer cell development by controlling T-BET expression

Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein family member 2 (TOX2) is a transcription factor belonging to the TOX family that shares a highly conserved high mobility group DNA-binding domain with the other TOX members. Although TOX1 has been shown to be an essential regulator of T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell differentiation in mice, little is known about the roles of the other TOX family members in lymphocyte development, particularly in humans. In this study, we found that TOX2 was preferentially expressed in mature human NK cells (mNK) and was upregulated during in vitro differentiation of NK cells from human umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived CD34(+) cells. Gene silencing of TOX2 intrinsically hindered the transition between early developmental stages of NK cells, whereas overexpression of TOX2 enhanced the development of mNK cells from UCB CD34(+) cells. We subsequently found that TOX2 was independent of ETS-1 but could directly upregulate the transcription of TBX21 (encoding T-BET). Overexpression of T-BET rescued the TOX2 knockdown phenotypes. Given the essential function of T-BET in NK cell differentiation, TOX2 therefore plays a crucial role in controlling normal NK cell development by acting upstream of TBX21 transcriptional regulation.

Differential epigenetic regulation of TOX subfamily high mobility group box genes in lung and breast cancers

Aberrant cytosine methylation affects regulation of hundreds of genes during cancer development. In this study, a novel aberrantly hypermethylated CpG island in cancer was discovered within the TOX2 promoter. TOX2 was unmethylated in normal cells but 28% lung (n = 190) and 23% breast (n = 80) tumors were methylated. Expression of two novel TOX2 transcripts identified was significantly reduced in primary lung tumors than distant normal lung (p<0.05). These transcripts were silenced in methylated lung and breast cancer cells and 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment re-expressed both. Extension of these assays to TOX, TOX3, and TOX4 genes that share similar genomic structure and protein homology with TOX2 revealed distinct methylation profiles by smoking status, histology, and cancer type. TOX was almost exclusively methylated in breast (43%) than lung (5%) cancer, whereas TOX3 was frequently methylated in lung (58%) than breast (30%) tumors. TOX4 was unmethylated in all samples and showed the highest expression in normal lung. Compared to TOX4, expression of TOX, TOX2 and TOX3 in normal lung was 25, 44, and 88% lower, respectively, supporting the premise that reduced promoter activity confers increased susceptibility to methylation during lung carcinogenesis. Genome-wide assays revealed that siRNA-mediated TOX2 knockdown modulated multiple pathways while TOX3 inactivation targeted neuronal development and function. Although these knockdowns did not result in further phenotypic changes of lung cancer cells in vitro, the impact on tissue remodeling, inflammatory response, and cell differentiation pathways suggest a potential role for TOX2 in modulating tumor microenvironment.

The many roles of TOX in the immune system

TOX is a member of an evolutionarily conserved DNA-binding protein family and is expressed in several immune-relevant cell subsets. Here, we review the key role of TOX in regulating development of CD4 T cells, natural killer cells and lymphoid tissue inducer cells, the latter responsible for the generation of lymph nodes. Although the exact molecular mechanism of action of TOX remains to be elucidated, the role of TOX in establishment of gene programs in the thymus and the potential of TOX as a regulator of E protein activity are discussed.

Regulation of NGFI-B/Nur77 gene expression in the rat ovary and in leydig tumor cells MA-10

NR4A1, also called NGFI-B in the rat, Nur77 in the mouse and TR3 in humans, belongs to the orphan nuclear steroid hormone receptor superfamily and is one of the immediate-early genes. In the endocrine organs, including the gonads, NGFI-B/Nur77 gene expression is rapidly induced by pituitary hormones. NGFI-B/Nur77 expression was found to be rapidly reduced by an estrogenic endocrine disrupter, diethylstilbestrol (DES) in theca interna cells of immature rat ovaries. DES treatment also triggered a rapid decrease of serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, suggesting that DES acts on the hypothalamo-pituitary axis to suppress LH secretion from the pituitary. The transcriptional regulation of NGFI-B/Nur77 by LH/human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or 8-bromoadenosine 3'-5'-cyclic monophosphate (8 Br-cAMP) was examined in mouse Leydig tumor cells MA-10. Luciferase assays using NGFI-B/Nur77 promoter constructs and electric mobility shift assays (EMSA) showed that NGFI-B/Nur77 gene expression was mediated through three of the four activator protein-1 (AP-1)-like sites, namely the -233 AP-1, -213 AP-1 and -69 AP-1 sites adjacent to the transcription start site of the NGFI-B/Nur77 promoter. We also demonstrated here that both the Jun family and cAMP-responsive element binding (CREB) proteins bind to the -233 AP-1 site, whereas the main binding protein to the -213 AP-1 site was CREB, and Jun family protein to the -69 AP-1 site, respectively. The rapid induction of NGFI-B/Nur77 gene expression by LH/hCG in MA-10 cells appears to be mediated by both CREB and Jun family proteins through the cAMP-protein kinase A (PKA) pathway.

Commitment issues: linking positive selection signals and lineage diversification in the thymus

The thymus is responsible for the production of CD4+ helper and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, which constitute the cellular arm of the immune system. These cell types derive from common precursors that interact with thymic stroma in a T-cell receptor (TCR)-specific fashion, generating intracellular signals that are translated into function-specific changes in gene expression. This overall process is termed positive selection, but it encompasses a number of temporally distinct and possibly mechanistically distinct cellular changes, including rescue from apoptosis, initiation of cell differentiation, and commitment to the CD4+ or CD8+ T-cell lineage. One of the puzzling features of positive selection is how specificity of the TCR controls lineage commitment, as both helper and cytolytic T cells utilize the same antigen-receptor components, with the exception of the CD4 or CD8 coreceptors themselves. In this review, we focus on the signals required for positive selection, particularly as they relate to lineage commitment. Identification of genes encoding transcriptional regulators that play a role in T-cell development has led to significant recent advances in the field. We also provide an overview of nuclear factors in this context and, where known, how their regulation is linked to the same TCR signals that have been implicated in initiating and regulating positive selection.

Development and application of a rat ovarian gene expression database

The pituitary gonadotropins play a key role in follicular development and ovulation through the induction of specific genes. To identify these genes, we have constructed a genome-wide rat ovarian gene expression database (rOGED). The database was constructed from total RNA isolated from intact ovaries, granulosa cells, or residual ovarian tissues collected from immature pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG)/human chorionic gonadotropin-treated rats at 0 h (no PMSG), 12 h, and 48 h post PMSG, as well as 6 and 12 h post human chorionic gonadotropin. The total RNA was used for DNA microarray analysis using Affymetrix Rat Expression Arrays 230A and 230B (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). The microarray data were compiled and used for display of individual gene expression profiles through specially developed software. The final rOGED provides immediate analysis of temporal gene expression profiles for over 28,000 genes in intact ovaries, granulosa cells, and residual ovarian tissue during follicular growth and the preovulatory period. The accuracy of the rOGED was validated against the gene profiles for over 20 known genes. The utility of the rOGED was demonstrated by identifying six genes that have not been described in the rat periovulatory ovary. The mRNA expression patterns and cellular localization for each of these six genes (estrogen sulfotransferase, synaptosomal-associated protein 25 kDa, runt-related transcription factor, calgranulin B, alpha1-macroglobulin, and MAPK phosphotase-3) were confirmed by Northern blot analyses and in situ hybridization, respectively. The current findings demonstrate that the rOGED can be used as an instant reference for ovarian gene expression profiles, as well as a reliable resource for identifying important yet, to date, unknown ovarian genes.